In the opening 30 minutes, Leon was facing the greatest pressure he had encountered since arriving in Serie A.
Roma's attacking play was fluid and varied.
They were not looking for one-on-ones; instead they were repeatedly firing from the edge of the penalty area.
That style of shooting put Leon under enormous strain.
Fortunately Leon's overall ability had already improved significantly, and several outstanding saves at the limit of his reach continued to keep AC Milan's goal intact.
Roma's attacking trio of Pjanić, Strootman, and Gervinho were very lively.
And veteran Totti, nominally a forward, kept dropping deep into midfield to draw AC Milan's defensive attention before threading passes through to his teammates.
"This is getting difficult."
In the commentary booth, Jackson watched the situation on the pitch with growing concern.
A team that does nothing but defend will eventually concede.
If AC Milan could not change their passive defensive shape and kept allowing Roma to play this way for the full match, whether Leon could keep the goal intact would come down to fortune.
"It really is getting difficult."
"AC Milan's attack is quite a step behind Roma's."
"No wonder AC Milan stopped focusing on developing Suso."
"The gap in talent between Suso and Pjanić and Strootman is genuinely visible to the naked eye."
Jian added from beside him.
Fans of AC Milan back in the East felt a twinge of anxiety as they heard those words.
AC Milan's future still looked very uncertain.
The young players lacked enough potential.
The older players were declining too quickly.
Leon had genuinely been an unexpected gift for AC Milan.
But would there be another Leon?
Or put another way, if Leon had not arrived, this season's AC Milan would probably already have fallen into the abyss.
Out on the pitch, the situation was growing ever more unfavourable for AC Milan.
Leon was having to shout loudly to organise the defensive line to cover the gaps.
But it felt increasingly like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
In the 38th minute, after a neat one-two between Totti and Pjanić, Totti stabbed a shot through at a very awkward angle.
Leon got a hand to it but could not hold on.
Pjanić's follow-up was just blocked by Mexes but struck the post before going out for a goal kick.
At that moment Leon had already dived to his left and had no chance whatsoever to [Flash] across to the right to make the save.
Quite a few AC Milan supporters instinctively wiped the cold sweat from their brows.
How long had it been since something like this had happened?
Leon had completely lost control of the goal on that ball; it was sheer luck that kept his goal intact.
"Keep pushing!"
"That goalkeeper from the East is nearly at his limit!"
Totti's eyes lit up at the sight of it.
He knew that one more shot like that would very likely break through the goal Leon was guarding.
Let Roma be the side to end Leon's clean sheet run.
In the 40th minute, Strootman unleashed a surprise shot from outside the box that deflected off Lami and changed direction.
Leon had already launched his body into the air and had absolutely no way of changing direction mid-flight.
Hiss.
Luck rescued AC Milan again.
Strootman's shot slid wide of the post.
On the touchline, Inzaghi watched with great anxiety, yet he could not come up with a good solution.
He instinctively pulled the team's shape back deeper.
That tactical change actually gave Roma even more shooting opportunities.
AC Milan's shape was being squeezed almost completely flat by Roma, crammed right up against the penalty area line.
'This cannot go on.'
'We're going to concede.'
Leon knew a change had to be made.
Parking the bus was simply not an option for AC Milan.
There was no need to say how poor AC Milan's defensive ability was.
Once they abandoned their attacking style of play, they had no way to function.
"Bonaventura!"
Leon seized a corner kick stoppage to quickly call Bonaventura over to his side.
"Captain!"
Bonaventura obediently came to Leon's side.
Even though he was six years older than Leon, a captain was a captain.
On the pitch, the captain's authority was beyond question.
"From now on, don't track back; float around the halfway line and wait for my pass."
"Once you receive it, take a touch to settle it; I want you to be the outlet and I want to see a clean counter-attack."
"We have to get the counter going."
Leon rattled off his instructions quickly.
Totti had already taken the corner quickly, and by then Bonaventura was already running towards the centre circle.
"What is he doing?"
Roma's home supporters were baffled.
They had no idea what it meant for Bonaventura to be jogging alone towards the centre circle while a corner was being taken.
But they understood soon enough.
Faced with another corner from Totti, Leon chose to come for it again.
However, the experienced De Rossi was first to react this time, reading the flight of the ball precisely and getting to the best position ahead of everyone else.
After jumping, Leon immediately saw he could no longer safely claim the ball cleanly.
But his powerful mental attributes kept him completely composed, and his adjustment was lightning fast.
He switched to punching the ball clear of the penalty area with both fists.
Strootman controlled the first ball outside the box.
What would he do with it?
At that moment everyone suddenly noticed that Leon had burst out of the penalty area and was charging straight towards Strootman.
Good grief.
What on earth was he doing?
This was madness.
Countless armchair fans had already written off what Leon was doing as a catastrophic mistake.
"It's over."
Even the AC Milan supporters could not follow Leon's thinking in that moment and simply felt certain the goal was about to be conceded.
Leon remained completely calm.
He knew he was taking a risk.
He was fully aware of the consequences his actions might bring.
But he needed to gamble.
Because he had something to back it up.
Strootman saw Leon charging towards him and smiled coolly.
Still a young goalkeeper who had not yet paid his full tuition fees.
Strootman nudged the ball lightly with his left foot to play a man-and-ball separation and tried to glide past Leon.
"Ding! [Interception Master] triggered successfully!"
The system notification in Leon's mind announced the outcome of the tackle.
Only after slipping past Leon did Strootman realise the man had passed but the ball had not.
With the ball at his feet, Leon immediately played it with one touch into the centre circle where Bonaventura was waiting.
The pass was not perfectly precise, but it was enough.
Bonaventura showed his technical quality in his first touch, bringing the ball under control smoothly before sweeping a pass forward.
"Go!"
Menez, Suso, and Torres all accelerated at the same moment, flying forward like three arrows loosed from a bow into Roma's half.
"Another corner counter-attack?"
Rudi García on the touchline furrowed his brow.
Surely they could not have dominated half the match only to come unstuck in such a bizarre way.
A bad feeling suddenly crept over Rudi García.
Bonaventura controlled the tempo and did not push forward too quickly; he was waiting for his teammates to make their runs.
After a brief sprint battle, AC Milan found themselves in a 4v3 situation in front of Roma's penalty area.
Strootman, having just been dispossessed by Leon, was clearly still rattled and failed to get back quickly enough.
It was Gervinho who used his pace to recover in front of the box, forming a makeshift defensive line with the two full-backs.
Roma's goalkeeper De Sanctis felt a jolt.
He had been standing around with nothing to do in front of goal, and now things had suddenly got serious.
What to do?
Menez and Suso both raised their hands calling for the ball at the same time, immediately drawing the defensive attention of Cole and Torosidis.
"Bang!"
Bonaventura passed to neither of them and instead struck a shot himself from outside the penalty area.
"Swish!"
De Sanctis was neither able to produce the kind of extreme save Leon would have made, nor did luck happen to be on his side.
The ball flew straight into the net.
Goooooooooooal!